jacobs-greenwood Directed by Charles Walters, with a Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play that was adapted by Sidney Sheldon, this below average Musical does features a lot of good circus action. It also marks the last film of this type which features Doris Day. Stephen Boyd plays her eventual love interest; Jimmy Durante plays her father, and Martha Raye plays Durante's long term fiancée. Dean Jagger also appears as a rival circus owner.The film's Score, which is largely forgettable except for the (Richard) Rodgers and (Lorenz) Hart song "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", was nominated for an Oscar, the last that George Stoll would earn. The film's title refers to the star of the show, a very talented pachyderm or, more specifically, an elephant. Billy Rose was the owner of the original musical extravaganza on whose 1934 show (starring Durante?) this film is based.Pop Wonder (Durante) runs a poor man's traveling circus that barely manages to keep ahead of its creditors. In fact, if it weren't for his daughter Kitty (Day), his assets including his best and favorite attraction, Jumbo, would have been taken away long ago. But Kitty's got just enough charm to assuage their pursuers until they can pack up and move on to the next town.Unfortunately, the Wonders haven't been able to pay their employees, so one by one they're losing their performers to a rival, better funded circus owned by John Noble (Jagger). It's not that the Wonder Circus isn't a pretty good show, capable of selling out the house; it's the fact that Pop can't resist losing the day's take in a local crap game afterwards.So, Kitty pretty much runs things as best she can. The fortune teller Lulu (Raye) is Pop's longtime girlfriend, to whom he's supposedly been engaged for 8 years. Pop is both a clown in the circus and it's master of ceremonies while Kitty performs on a horse and fills in anywhere else when necessary. Billy Barty (uncredited) is featured briefly in one scene.One day, a handsome circus tramp (a traveler who drifts from job to job in different circuses) named Sam Rawlins (Boyd) arrives. Though Kitty initially dismisses him, preferring to hire employees with staying power, Sam proves invaluable when the Wonder's tightrope walker disappears. So, he becomes part of the circus. Naturally, a budding relationship develops between Sam and Kitty, especially after Sam helps Kitty recoup most of the $800 that her father had lost shooting craps, enabling her to pay and thus retain most of the circus's staff.Somehow, without any money, Pop finds a way to purchase the cannon he's always wanted and attempts to launch Lulu across the ring; it doesn't work. What Kitty doesn't know is that handyman Sam is actually John Noble's son, who is using his father's cash to buy up all the Wonder's bills. Grady Sutton appears briefly, and nearly unrecognizably, as a hay seller. Noble covets Jumbo and hopes to gather enough of Wonder's debt to takeover his circus and own the elephant that Wonder refuses to sell.Of course, Sam's relationship with Kitty grows, making him feel guilty and, just about the time he decides to quit working for his father, Kitty finds out and is disillusioned, when he's nowhere to be found.Without their circus or Jumbo, Pop, Lulu and Kitty form a small, one cart vaudeville type show, traveling, and swindling, their way around the country to survive. One day, Sam catches up with them to re- declare his love for Kitty. The fact that he's somehow managed to (buy from his father and) bring Jumbo with him seals the deal. With the elephant, and an added performer in Sam, the four person Wonder circus quickly grows to be bigger and better than the original show by the film's end.

Claudio Carvalho In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the traveling The Wonder Circus has the greatest attraction the elephant Jumbo and is full of debts. The owner, Anthony 'Pop' Wonder (Jimmy Durante), works as a clown but is a gambler addicted in dice games and usually loses the box office gambling. He has been deceiving the clairvoyant Lulu (Martha Raye) for many years promising to marry her. His daughter, Kitty Wonder (Doris Day), is the trick rider and tries to negotiate with creditors and the circus performers to keep the business going on. John Noble (Dean Jagger), who owns a famous Noble Circus, wants to buy Jumbo and The Wonder Circus, but Pop refuses his offers.When the mysterious Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd) asks for a job in the Wonder Circus, Kitty refuses and tells that they do not want adventurer working in their circus. But he proves to be an excellent aerialist and handy man and Pop hires him since they lost many performers due to the lack of payment. Soon Kitty falls in love with Sam, but he has a secret agenda and she does not know. "Billy Rose's Jumbo" is a forgettable and cute musical based on a 1935 Broadway show. The silly plot is a predictable romance entwined with many songs and performances by circus performers and entertains. The work of the stunts and the edition is wonderful. Unfortunately the songs in the DVD released by Warner in Brazil do not have subtitles in a absolute lack of respect from Warner to the Brazilian costumers. Shame on you Warner! My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Mais Querida do Mundo" ("The Dearest in the World")

fflambeau The story isn't much here: boy meets girl, they fall in love etc. BUT what is terrific are the performances, singing, and acting by all of the main actors. Especially good is Jimmy Durante: he has some really funny lines (like, "Elephant? What elephant?") and more and he and Martha Raye are a great comic team. He also shows he can dance and sing (kind of, once you get used to the snozola's voice).Doris Day is Doris Day; she's lovely here. Some people on these reviews think she was too old. Actually, she looks about right for S. Boyd, the heartthrob of the movie. She's divine in that pink outfit she wears when he sings, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." He by the way is very virile and sings fairly well (it does sound like HIS voice and not dubbing). Day was the biggest star of her time and she delivers in this movie. Especially touching is her rendition of "Little Girl Blue".I've seen this movie at least 3 times on Turner Classic Movies and the color and sound are spectacular. I also think the story moves along fairly briskly and the music is well integrated into the action. What is remarkable about this movie is that it doesn't seem dated, or have lost its charm (in contrast, for instance, to many musicals like "Meet me in St. Louis). Because of the elemental themes involved: love/hate; struggles between father and son; struggles for a circus to make it economically etc. it's message is timeless. The ending, about a 7 minute collage of music, is also fantastic and centers around the song, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World." I think this movie never made it, oddly enough because of its cumbersome name. "Billie Rose's Jumbo"? Billie Rose was involved in the play and stipulated that if this was ever made into a musical, his name had to appear in the titles. I think this hurt the movie. It's well worth watching and if you see it, you'll want to see it again and again.

Spikeopath Billy Rose's Jumbo is based on a play of the same name produced by Billy Rose. The play was adapted from the book written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the screenplay here is written by Sidney Sheldon. Music is scored by George Stoll, with songs written by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart. It's directed by Charles Walters, with Busby Berkeley on second unit duties, and stars Doris Day, Jimmy Durante, Stephen Boyd, Martha Raye and Dean Jagger. William H. Daniels photographs and it's a Panavision/Metrocolor production out of MGM.The Pop Wonder Circus is suffering desperate financial problems, with rival Noble Circus circling like a vulture ready to strip it of its greatest assets. Then one day a stranger walks in and joins them as a wire walker and things start to pick up. But as romance blossoms and problems begin to ease, shocking news brings great disruption to the equilibrium.It's the sort of musical production that can be picked apart to reveal many problems. Problems in length, quality of song execution and certain casting issues, they are there and undeniably stop the film being great. However, if one is just after a breezy piece of fluff, in the company of a delightful leading lady, then it's a film that does its job. Structured as a series of songs and circus routines, there is little room for an intelligent plot, it's a basic boy/girl romance played out whilst some bad guy lurks in the background threatening to drive a wedge between the lovers. Still, the foot tappers keep it charming, the production value is top notch and the Metrocolor used is very pleasing. While the actual circus performers are truly great at their art (wire walkers a favourite over here).So, as shallow as a puddle in terms of story and character depth, but even tho it should have had better care and attention afforded it, it remains above average and of appeal to musical fans. 6.5/10